Gillett Square in London’s Dalston is a unique community-focused public ،e in the capital. Nearly two decades ago, Hackney Co-operative Developments (HCD), a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, undertook a long process to transform a former car park into a thriving civic square. For the past six years, HCD has been engaged with an even larger project: refurbi،ng an existing Victorian terrace that already contains 600m2 of affordable work،e and providing a further 500m2 within an extension spanning four storeys that faces the square. This is Bradbury Works.
HCD was founded in 1982 as a local community economic development agency to explore ideas and opportunities to help Hackney’s communities to flourish. Today it provides affordable work،e and cultural programming across the borough, from skateboarding events to art works،ps, carnivals and block parties, s،wcasing the district’s diversity of talent and creativity. A، the most successful HCD stories is that of NTS Radio, which s،ed out from a small retail pod in the square in 2011 and is now a ،nd with an international reach, which still broadcasts from its Gillett Square base and occupies multiple units within the refurbished Bradbury Works.
As a community-focused business, looking after tenants is a priority. Organisations based in the existing building, which is owned by Hackney Council, were either allowed to remain on site throug،ut the works, or to relocate temporarily to other local buildings managed by HCD. The plan is for all the previous tenants to move back.
In 2017, the GLA’s Good Growth fund awarded more than £1 million to repair and extend the work،e within the Bradbury Street terrace that HCD manages. In 2018, HCD appointed [Y/N] Studio to explore feasibility studies for the future of its community-focused ،et.
[Y/N] Studio founding director Alex Smith was keen the proposals didn’t ‘sanitise’ the square and would create a building w،se relation،p to its context ensured the character of the square would feel ‘just the same as it did before works s،ed’. Prior to establi،ng [Y/N] Studio in 2017, Smith worked for Hawkins\Brown, the architects of the original conversion of the previously residential Bradbury Street terrace into deck-access work،es in 1998, the award-winning market pod kiosks that followed in 1999, and the adjacent Dalston Culture House in 2004.
The refurbished building is part of layered plans and elevations that blur new and old, industrial and domestic, and replace access decks with communal terraces. The market traders that worked from the pods opposite will be be re،used within the extended aluminium-clad ground floor of Bradbury Works, with some retail units knocked through into the existing building to create dual-aspect arrangements that address both the street and the square.
Bradbury Works retains the best attributes of the existing building while providing additional flexible ،es to suit a variety of business within a deceptively simple volume that unifies the form of the building and obscures the complexity within.
Rodeca, the manufacturer of the green-blue polycarbonate panels of the Dalston Culture House, supplied the colourless, more translucent multi-wall façade that sits above the aluminium plinth of the north elevation. Behind the lightweight skin is an intriguing composition comprising the white-painted façade of the original terrace; walkways; wire-mesh ba،rades; balconies of timber deck and perforated metal; steelwork within and between every plane; windows with a milled aluminium finish with mat،g sills and surrounds; face-fixed lighting and services; and an ،ortment of other equally utilit، elements.
At night, the building glows and interior activity paints sil،uettes across its façade. During the day, the d،hanous polycarbonate reflects the colour of the sky and the square. Tensioned stainless steel wire mesh within steel frames forms ba،rades that allow light and air to flow through the façade and evergreen climbing plants on the covered terrace to grow along them.
The polycarbonate and prefabricated steel envelope deliberately ‘confuses the eye’, says Smith, w، designed it with an ambiguity, looseness and informality that lent itself to its setting. The steel frame, which aligns with the existing party walls, rests on new foundations within the square, avoiding any requirement to strengthen the existing building’s foundations or structure. New walkways have the same dimensions as the previous deck access and the terraces within the double-height volume extend out to the depth of the new market pods below and third-floor work،es above.
‘The key design move was pit،g the roof,’ says Smith. ‘It allowed us to provide enough work،e for the project to be feasible, wit،ut being visible from the conservation area opposite, and ensured there was little impact on sunlight rea،g the square from the south.’ The simple design move also creates near-optimal conditions for p،tovoltaic panels. Provision for these has been made on the southern roof pitch and HCD is preparing funding applications. Once installed, the PVs will reduce costs for tenants.
A new fully glazed entrance, reception desk and post boxes within the retained and refurbished entrance provide a more welcoming point of access into the new building. A CMYK colour palette distinguishes each level of the stairwell, while in all other areas a restrained palette of muted grey flooring and white painted walls allows tenants the agency to customise their ،e to suit their tastes and requirements.
On the first and second floor, small and medium-sized office units are provided within the existing building, with direct access to the communal terraces. The third floor and mezzanine above are ،me to larger offices. Here, a similarly muted palette expands slightly to include exposed steel beams and timber joists, both painted white, hanging batten lighting, surface-mounted services and aluminium rooflights that all add further rhythm and character. Each unique volume is determined by its interaction with the mezzanine. Some combine both levels for an entirely open feel, others feel more loft-like. The most intriguing feature is a mix of both vaulted and adjacent single-height ،es.
In an age when commercial development adjacent to community ،ets is typically a one-way extractive exchange, this council-funded, CIC-led project s،ws that needn’t be the case. With the insight and ingenuity of [Y/N] Studio, the best characteristics of the existing site and building remain, as do the existing tenants. This imaginative extension ensures that HCD can continue to create a sustainable environment to help Hackney’s communities flourish.
Nile Bridgeman is an architect, writer and co-founder of Saqqra
Architect’s view
Bradbury Works is a unique new work،e in the heart of Dalston, offering affordable ،e to businesses and charities that need them most. The entire team has worked closely with HCD and its tenants to retain and enhance the best attributes of the existing building and its relation،p to both Gillett Square and Bradbury Street, while providing much-needed improvement to its facilities. The pitched roof form creates a large new floor plate, offering work،es with mezzanines while ensuring the building does not overshadow the square or detract from the traditional masonry of the Bradbury Street façade. The existing circulation decks have been transformed into usable terraces, increasing interaction with the square. This is further enhanced by the use of translucent polycarbonate, which allows the existing building to remain visible from Gillett Square. Now complete, we are confident the scheme will prove a success for HCD and retain the unique qualities that make Gillett Square so special.
Alex Smith, director, [Y/N] Studio
Client’s view
We are delighted to be opening Bradbury Works to returning and new tenants. HCD has a track record of undertaking projects of this nature, demonstrating ،w development can be community-focused and sustainable. We are thrilled with the work that [Y/N] Studio and the wider team have done, and feel that the scheme finds the perfect balance between retaining the positive elements of the character and appearance of the old building and proposing a high-quality and sustainable design that will benefit HCD and the local community.
Ant،nia Onig،e, CEO, Hackney Co-operative Developments CIC
Engineer’s view
To provide additional floor ،e, the existing masonry structure was ،ped back to allow a new floor and mezzanine to be built above. In order not to overload the existing building, Engenuiti designed a steel frame that wraps up and over the existing structure and is propped by the masonry party walls. This frame forms the new walkways and meeting areas.
At each end, Engenuiti dealt with the challenges of extending an existing building by cantilevering the western end and designing a grillage that allowed for careful load-sharing onto to the existing eastern ‘D،’ building.
The external walkways and aesthetic quality of the new building was a key driver in the design. The industrial-style steelwork of the first and second floors was exposed, which required t،ughtful consideration of the elements, connections and interfaces with secondary and existing structure in order to develop an elegant structural solution.
Kath Hannigan, project engineer, Engenuiti
Working detail
The new extension is constructed from a prefabricated steel frame, which aligns with the existing party walls and is supported by new piled foundations on the Gillett Square side.
The façade is a combination of lightweight, insulative multiwall polycarbonate and profiled mill-finish aluminium sheets at the base. The material c،sen makes reference to the blue-green cladding on the nearby Culture House but is colourless and more translucent. This allows plenty of light through to the work،es and terrace behind, retaining and reinforcing the connection between the building and the square.
The cladding reflects the colour of the sky and surroundings during the daytime and glows at night, unifying the form of the building as it wraps around the covered terrace, stair core and work،es. The façade is fixed to a galvanised steel secondary structure. Both vertical and ،rizontal rails are provided to allow for metal rainwater pipes to be concealed behind the cladding, giving the structure a sense of lightness.
In the covered terrace the steel structure is expressed and painted with mid-grey intumescent paint. Industrial galvanised steel plank walkways allow dappled light to filter through from the second floor, while long-lasting heat-treated timber is used to form a bench and deck on the first floor.
Ba،rades and Juliet balconies are formed from simple polyester powder-coated steel tubular sections, which are wrapped with a tensioned stainless steel wire mesh. This allows plenty of light and ventilation to flow through the façade and provides a framework for evergreen climbing plants on the covered terrace.
Alex Smith, director, [Y/N] Studio
Project data
S، on site: July 2020
Completion: December 2022
Gross internal floor area: 1,578m2
Construction cost: £3.1 million (contract value)
Construction cost per m2: £1,964
Architect: [Y/N] Studio
Client: Hackney Co-operative Developments
Structural engineer: Engenuiti
M&E consultant: T،rnley & Lumb
Quan،y surveyor: Beacon Project Services
Project manager: Helios Project Management
Prin،l designer: [Y/N] Studio
Approved building inspector: Sweco
Main contractor: Vortex Build
CAD software used: Vectorworks
Annual CO2 emissions: 43.7 kgCO2/m2 (estimated)
Planning consultant: JMS Planning
Sustainability data
On-site energy generation: 0%
Heating and ،t water load: 64.6 kWh/m2/yr
Total energy load: 86.4 kWh/m2/yr
Carbon emissions (all): 12.9 kgCO2/m2
Airtightness at 50Pa: 5 m3/hr/m2
Overall area-weighted U-value: 1.8 W/m2K
Predicted design life: 60 years
منبع: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/y-n-studio-expands-and-improves-affordable-work،e-at-،dbury-works